Flabbergasted by VNC, I opt for KVM
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I've used VNC to connect to a headless Mac Mini (previously i5, 8GB & now M1, 16GB) for many years. I've tweaked it out in many ways to make it faster and the connection is directly from my Linux desktop over 1Gb ethernet directly to the Mac. I am completely amazed and how slow it actually is. And there seems to be a bug where if you just type a character or two (say in a terminal window) then when the cursor stops it does not draw again. It does this with the I-bar text cursor in XCode when I move it a few characters down to alter some text. After moving the I-bar it just doesn't redraw again. It's so annoying and I just didn't know that VNC would work so poorly -- well at least on the mac connection. Anyways, I finally bought a KVM so I can just switch over to the mac. I just don't really understand why the littlest thing like sending cursor position would be so slow. I connect to remote desktops (windows 10 from my linux box) which are far away in distance across my router and out into the public internet and it works better so very confusing. Glad I'm taking on the KVM.
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I've used VNC to connect to a headless Mac Mini (previously i5, 8GB & now M1, 16GB) for many years. I've tweaked it out in many ways to make it faster and the connection is directly from my Linux desktop over 1Gb ethernet directly to the Mac. I am completely amazed and how slow it actually is. And there seems to be a bug where if you just type a character or two (say in a terminal window) then when the cursor stops it does not draw again. It does this with the I-bar text cursor in XCode when I move it a few characters down to alter some text. After moving the I-bar it just doesn't redraw again. It's so annoying and I just didn't know that VNC would work so poorly -- well at least on the mac connection. Anyways, I finally bought a KVM so I can just switch over to the mac. I just don't really understand why the littlest thing like sending cursor position would be so slow. I connect to remote desktops (windows 10 from my linux box) which are far away in distance across my router and out into the public internet and it works better so very confusing. Glad I'm taking on the KVM.
raddevus wrote:
headless Mac Mini
Wow, where can I subscribe to behead Apple hardware ?
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I've used VNC to connect to a headless Mac Mini (previously i5, 8GB & now M1, 16GB) for many years. I've tweaked it out in many ways to make it faster and the connection is directly from my Linux desktop over 1Gb ethernet directly to the Mac. I am completely amazed and how slow it actually is. And there seems to be a bug where if you just type a character or two (say in a terminal window) then when the cursor stops it does not draw again. It does this with the I-bar text cursor in XCode when I move it a few characters down to alter some text. After moving the I-bar it just doesn't redraw again. It's so annoying and I just didn't know that VNC would work so poorly -- well at least on the mac connection. Anyways, I finally bought a KVM so I can just switch over to the mac. I just don't really understand why the littlest thing like sending cursor position would be so slow. I connect to remote desktops (windows 10 from my linux box) which are far away in distance across my router and out into the public internet and it works better so very confusing. Glad I'm taking on the KVM.
VNC is a rather old protocol. If I remember correctly, it is an encapsulation of RFB (Remote Frame Buffer) protocol that just sends across squares of screen real estate that have changed. I doubt it has the concept of mouse position. Also there are many VNC variants (real VNC, tiger VNC, tight VNC) so your mileage may vary. You might be better off with an RDP connection if there is such a thing for Macs.
Mircea
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VNC is a rather old protocol. If I remember correctly, it is an encapsulation of RFB (Remote Frame Buffer) protocol that just sends across squares of screen real estate that have changed. I doubt it has the concept of mouse position. Also there are many VNC variants (real VNC, tiger VNC, tight VNC) so your mileage may vary. You might be better off with an RDP connection if there is such a thing for Macs.
Mircea
Very good information. Thanks. I thought it was related to the VNC protocol myself. I have tried numerous times and various ways to use RDP to connect to the mac but could never get it to work. I also can't find anything online that shows that you can use RDP so I finally gave up. Wow though! The KVM (obviously) is magical. Who'da thought that using your computer directly was so much faster than a remote connection? :laugh:
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Very good information. Thanks. I thought it was related to the VNC protocol myself. I have tried numerous times and various ways to use RDP to connect to the mac but could never get it to work. I also can't find anything online that shows that you can use RDP so I finally gave up. Wow though! The KVM (obviously) is magical. Who'da thought that using your computer directly was so much faster than a remote connection? :laugh:
raddevus wrote:
Who'da thought that using your computer directly was so much faster than a remote connection?
Darn those hardware guys and their speedy toys! :laugh:
Mircea
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I've used VNC to connect to a headless Mac Mini (previously i5, 8GB & now M1, 16GB) for many years. I've tweaked it out in many ways to make it faster and the connection is directly from my Linux desktop over 1Gb ethernet directly to the Mac. I am completely amazed and how slow it actually is. And there seems to be a bug where if you just type a character or two (say in a terminal window) then when the cursor stops it does not draw again. It does this with the I-bar text cursor in XCode when I move it a few characters down to alter some text. After moving the I-bar it just doesn't redraw again. It's so annoying and I just didn't know that VNC would work so poorly -- well at least on the mac connection. Anyways, I finally bought a KVM so I can just switch over to the mac. I just don't really understand why the littlest thing like sending cursor position would be so slow. I connect to remote desktops (windows 10 from my linux box) which are far away in distance across my router and out into the public internet and it works better so very confusing. Glad I'm taking on the KVM.
I've tried doing that as well. Even with RDP and a couple Windows boxes. At the end of the day, even if everything works quick-ish, the latency for this type of stuff is too much for real productive work. Especially if you do just about anything with graphics or animation. Personally, I don't touch the stuff unless I have no other choice for things like simple server admin. Sanity is more important than having to tap a button to swap.
Jeremy Falcon
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I've used VNC to connect to a headless Mac Mini (previously i5, 8GB & now M1, 16GB) for many years. I've tweaked it out in many ways to make it faster and the connection is directly from my Linux desktop over 1Gb ethernet directly to the Mac. I am completely amazed and how slow it actually is. And there seems to be a bug where if you just type a character or two (say in a terminal window) then when the cursor stops it does not draw again. It does this with the I-bar text cursor in XCode when I move it a few characters down to alter some text. After moving the I-bar it just doesn't redraw again. It's so annoying and I just didn't know that VNC would work so poorly -- well at least on the mac connection. Anyways, I finally bought a KVM so I can just switch over to the mac. I just don't really understand why the littlest thing like sending cursor position would be so slow. I connect to remote desktops (windows 10 from my linux box) which are far away in distance across my router and out into the public internet and it works better so very confusing. Glad I'm taking on the KVM.
Come to think about it, there is a solution if you want both "on" at the same time. You can get wide monitors that take two simultaneous inputs at the same time and show each display on either side of the screen. Then it's a matter of installing software to make it seamless on both machines. Since it's only tracking keyboard and mouse data the latency is tremendously better than VNC or RDP. I am in no way recommending this particular monitor but just showing they be out there: [Amazon Clickety](https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-S34J55W-34-Inch-Ultrawide-LS34J550WQNXZA/dp/B07FBS36W2/).
Jeremy Falcon
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I've used VNC to connect to a headless Mac Mini (previously i5, 8GB & now M1, 16GB) for many years. I've tweaked it out in many ways to make it faster and the connection is directly from my Linux desktop over 1Gb ethernet directly to the Mac. I am completely amazed and how slow it actually is. And there seems to be a bug where if you just type a character or two (say in a terminal window) then when the cursor stops it does not draw again. It does this with the I-bar text cursor in XCode when I move it a few characters down to alter some text. After moving the I-bar it just doesn't redraw again. It's so annoying and I just didn't know that VNC would work so poorly -- well at least on the mac connection. Anyways, I finally bought a KVM so I can just switch over to the mac. I just don't really understand why the littlest thing like sending cursor position would be so slow. I connect to remote desktops (windows 10 from my linux box) which are far away in distance across my router and out into the public internet and it works better so very confusing. Glad I'm taking on the KVM.
Many years ago I'm sure I had a software KVM solution for my Linux and Windows boxes. It might have been Synergy, but I'm sure it was freeware. But for 30 bucks, it might be worth looking into. Other options are mentioned here: [https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/why-you-no-longer-need-a-kvm-switch-for-your-multi-pc-setup/\](https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/why-you-no-longer-need-a-kvm-switch-for-your-multi-pc-setup/)
Keep Calm and Carry On
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I've used VNC to connect to a headless Mac Mini (previously i5, 8GB & now M1, 16GB) for many years. I've tweaked it out in many ways to make it faster and the connection is directly from my Linux desktop over 1Gb ethernet directly to the Mac. I am completely amazed and how slow it actually is. And there seems to be a bug where if you just type a character or two (say in a terminal window) then when the cursor stops it does not draw again. It does this with the I-bar text cursor in XCode when I move it a few characters down to alter some text. After moving the I-bar it just doesn't redraw again. It's so annoying and I just didn't know that VNC would work so poorly -- well at least on the mac connection. Anyways, I finally bought a KVM so I can just switch over to the mac. I just don't really understand why the littlest thing like sending cursor position would be so slow. I connect to remote desktops (windows 10 from my linux box) which are far away in distance across my router and out into the public internet and it works better so very confusing. Glad I'm taking on the KVM.
Hmm, I guess there was no monitor connected to the Mac. I know when I remote connected to a Windows PC without a monitor it caused issues with the remote software. If you need to go back to remote desktop software you could try a monitor emulator dongle (AKA HDMI dummy plug) to simulate a monitor in hardware. Software-wise I use TeamViewer - it is free for personal use. It can work over a local network, although that is not the default.
